Star Trek: 'Strange New Worlds,' 'Discovery' & 'Lower Decks' renewed as Paramount+ sets 2022 schedule

If you were feeling the lack of Star Trek six years ago when there were no new films or TV series, what a difference just a few years makes. Today, while the film side is still developing new scripts, the TV side is brimming over with all kinds of original Star Trek storytelling to choose from... with a lot more to come.

Today Paramount+, the exclusive streaming service for all of the official Star Trek series, announced that Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks and ahead of it's debut, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, have all been renewed for new seasons. In addition, the premiere date for Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard was revealed, as well as the air schedule for the rest of Season 1 of Star Trek: Prodigy and Season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery.

On the renewal side, Star Trek: Discovery has been picked up for a fifth season. The animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks, will return for a 10-episode-long fourth season. And the much buzzed about spin-off series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds starring Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Pike's second-in-command, has been given a second season order ahead of its May 5, 2022 premiere. 

As for when all of these series will air on Paramount+, the network is staggering the scheduling so Trek fans will have new episodes to savor into the summer. The first series back on Feb. 10 will be the second half of Star Trek: Discovery's current run. Soon after, Patrick Stewart and company return with Star Trek: Picard on March 3, and new episodes will drop weekly. Then on May 5, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will finally debut and then release new episodes weekly. 

For the animated Trek fans, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 returns in the summer with 10-new episodes also dropping weekly. And the 10-episode second half of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 will return to the streamer later in 2022. 

Meanwhile, the current architect of the Star Trek franchise, Alex Kurtzman, and his creative producers are still developing three other series ideas: Section 31 meant as a spin-off vehicle for the mirror universe's Philippa Georgiou of Star Trek: Discovery played by Michelle Yeoh; Ceti Alpha V which is a limited series based on the life of notorious Trek adversary Khan Noonien Singh; and a Starfleet Academy series from the former The O.C. executive producers, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz. Paramount+ didn't have any updates on these shows but will hopefully have updates as the year progresses.